Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world---a new business-minded middle class---that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.

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Audible Editor Reviews

If Islam is dominated by violent extremists opposed to all dealings with the liberal west, what accounts for the robust expression of capitalism that is Dubai? This sober and probing audiobook is performed with care by Arthur Morey, whose audiobook specialty is in making dense subject matter clear to a listening audience.

Vali Nasr, Dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, argues that a middle class is rising all over the Muslim world - particularly in Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey - and that this class is the key to the spread of democracy in the region. To encourage this positive movement, Nasr calls upon the U.S. government to stop confusing devout Muslim religiosity with anti-Americanism.

Publisher's Summary

Renowned Middle East expert Vali Nasr's best-selling book The Shia Revival profoundly transformed the debate about the Iraq War by unveiling how the Sunni-Shia rift was driving the insurgency. Now, in Forces of Fortune, Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world---a new business-minded middle class---that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists. Nasr's groundbreaking analysis will utterly rewrite the wisdom about how the West can best contend with the threat of Islamic extremism, as well as about the future we can expect of the Muslim world. The great battle for the soul of Iran, the Arab world, Pakistan, and the entire region will be fought not over religion, Nasr reveals, but over business and capitalism. With a deft combination of historical narrative and eye-opening contemporary on-the-ground reporting from his constant trips to the region, Nasr takes us behind the news, so dominated by the struggle against extremists and the Taliban, to introduce a Muslim world we've not seen---a Muslim world in which the balance of power is being reshaped by an upwardly mobile middle class of entrepreneurs, investors, professionals, and avid consumers, who can tip the scales away from extremist belligerence. His insights into the true situations in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the crucial bright spots of Dubai and Turkey provide a whole new way of thinking about the troubles and prospects in the region.

Nasr's presents a truly erudite view on the gestalt of Persia--purposeful omission of the Shah's renaming from German influence. Highly recommended. This work gleans the current challenges of the country: power, theocracy, religion, pragmatism, hubris, intellect, and fear . This with the Persian Puzzle, Pollack, Victor Hanson's Culture and Carnage, Rupert Smith's The Utility of Force, and Margaret MacMillan's Paris 1919 will provide you with a newfound appreciation for the trials and tribulations fraught with both trepidation and intrepediation, missteps, and miscommunications. The country is no longer uneducated and lemmings.

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